Raising vehicle registration fees a tough sell for Snyder

When it comes to hiking registration fees on cars owned by Michigan drivers, Gov. Rick Snyder will find it a tough sell — both with the public and with his fellow Republicans who control the state House and Senate.

In his State of the State address Wednesday, the governor proposed fee increases as part of a solution to address the state’s need for $1.2 billion in additional money to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads.

Snyder proposed a shift from the gas tax per gallon paid by motorists at the pump to a tax at the wholesale level, an increase in vehicle registration fees for light cars and for trucks, and an optional local or regional registration fee.

The governor’s office estimates the average cost to motorists at $120 a year.

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In the governor’s pitch to the Legislature Wednesday night, Snyder said $1.2 billion invested each year in Michigan roads for a decade would save the state $15 billion over the same decade if the state were to do nothing.

Snyder also said the investment would save 100 lives per year and hundreds of dollars each year in annual auto repair bills for Michigan drivers.

But Republican lawmakers are leery of hiking fees, and the responses from people on Facebook when asked if they would be willing to pay more in gasoline taxes or vehicle registration fees ranged from “No” to “Hell, no.”

“NO!” said Cheryl-Sherry Vincent Azelton. “This is a payback for big business who are responsible for destroying our roads. The semi companies and the businesses that hire them are tearing up the roads because we allow them to carry more weight in each trailer than any other state.”

Said Aaron Poplawski from Warren: “He has taken enough from me since he took office. Leave us middle class people alone, I struggle from check to check already. Why don’t you tax vehicles that get less than 15 mpg instead, they can obviously afford it.”

David Yackell called the condition of Michigan roads “government mismanagement.”

“Michigan’s economy and the roads are some of the worst in the country and they want to take more out of our pockets???!!! Where does it stop?” he asked.

Fabian Lopez from Troy said voters should have the final say on tax or fee increases.

“The economy is going a little bit better, but still he should have the people vote on it,” he said. “We should have say on everything the government does because he shouldn’t have absolute power.”

Alan Franks, who is a retired, said he is not willing to pay more taxes.

“He took away from me $600 every year with this tax that he’s had — that’s the homestead tax. That’s $600 I could have used ... why should they have more money from us?”

The reception from Republicans in the Legislature wasn’t as blunt, but chilly nonetheless.

“The governor will have to show the House Republicans that all possible existing resources have been tapped into and made as effective as possible before they’ll approve any increases,” House Republican spokesman Ari Adler said following the governor’s speech.

“The question of how much more money can be raised from taxpayers should be the very last question that is asked,” Adler said.

Snyder first floated the debate on road funding in his special message to the Legislature on transportation last year.

If legislative proposals move ahead, Snyder may have to turn to Democrats in order to pass them.

That might be a tall task, too, since Democrats are furious with right-to-work laws and other measures hustled through the Legislature in the lame duck session last month.

And he spent the first half of his speech touting the state’s successes: fewer regulations, lower business taxes, education reforms, a growing number of jobs, and a growing population.

But he glossed over the right-to-work battle that consumed the middle part of the month in Lansing in December.

And Democrats, in their response, noted Snyder made no mention of tax cuts for the middle class, relief for seniors who will now pay taxes on retirement income, and what they say is the loss of $2 billion for public education funding.

Snyder also made no mention of the funding crisis facing the city of Detroit, or what the state’s action may be to resolve it.